KEIREN WESTWOOD will make his Sunderland debut at Brighton tonight – but Steve Bruce insists Simon Mignolet is not being punished for his costly derby mistake.

Goalkeeper Mignolet’s positional error saw him beaten by a Ryan Taylor free-kick at the weekend, handing Newcastle victory in the Wear-Tyne derby at the Stadium of Light.

While the Belgian will sit out tonight’s Carling Cup tie as Bruce bloods summer signing Westwood, the Black Cats boss says it was always his intention to play the former Coventry and Carlisle man at the AMEX Stadium.

Bruce said: “Simon has done fantastically well since he came to the club, but he knew in himself I was probably going to play Keiren in this game.

“It would be unfair on Keiren to tell him one week he will be playing at Brighton and then change my mind.

“So I am not going to have second thoughts on that one – Keiren needs to play and this is a good opportunity for him.

“He is a very competent goalkeeper, with plenty of experience, and it is up to him now to stake his claim.

“Hopefully, he will look upon this as a chance to show what he can do because I brought him here to mount a challenge to the other goalkeepers at the club.”

Bruce is determined not to take Gus Poyet’s Brighton lightly, pointing out the Seagulls have made an unbeaten start to life in the Championship following promotion.

Brighton had the best home record in League One last season and there is also a feel-good factor at the South Coast club now they have moved to their new stadium following 14 nomadic years without a permanent ground.

Bruce also realises the derby defeat has ramped up the pressure on this game.

He added: “You can sense the players’ disappointment at what happened in the derby and the determination to put it right was pretty evident in training yesterday.

“I hope we can do that tonight and we will have to because it will be a tough game.

“The only thing we can do is win the fans over again. Last year we did it and we need to do it again.”

With that in mind, Bruce will make only a handful of changes to his line-up, one of which has been forced upon him with right-back Phil Bardsley sitting out tonight’s game through suspension following his red card in the derby.

Bruce could move Wes Brown to right-back or alternatively drop Ahmed Elmohamady back to fill the gap left by Bardsley.

Aside from the introduction of Westwood, fellow new arrivals David Vaughan and Craig Gardner will make their first starts for the club after being restricted to substitute outings in the first two games.

Bruce said: “Gardner and Vaughan are both champing at the bit to play, and it was always in my mind to play them in this one.

“I think using your squad to make two changes is the right thing to do, but I will not be making seven or eight.

“I will be taking virtually the same 18 players who were used against Newcastle, the only change being young Jordan Cook will come in to replace Phil.”

Ex-Manchester United defender John O’Shea will not be involved because he has only been back in training for two days after recovering from a hamstring strain, however Bruce is hopeful he will be involved in this weekend’s league game at Swansea.